McDonald’s is one of the most popular fast-food chains in the world. All of us can vouch for the quality of its food, hygiene, and service. But what about Is McDonald’s A Good Place To Work as an employer? McDonald’s offers jobs as kitchen assistants, customer service assistants, and managers. It provides cross-functional training so that employees can shift between the kitchen and front desk when the situation demands. Though it employs around 1.9 million people, it is generally not portrayed as a good place to work. But is this perception correct? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of working at McDonald’s, so that we can decide for ourselves.
Pros
According to ‘Great Place to Work 2019 U.S. National Employee Engagement Study’, 73% of employees at McDonald’s USA say it is a great place to work compared to 59% of employees at a typical U.S.-based company.
So, what’s so great about working at McDonald’s?
- It provides a huge scope for social interactions. As the employees are shifted regularly between the kitchen and front desk, everyone gets the opportunity to build relationships with the customers, especially the regular ones. Friendship also developed among co-workers who are broadly of the same age and spend a lot of time together.
- Working at McDonald’s helps you develop your soft skills, which can prove very useful in your future career. It helps you develop good communication skills as you are expected to be cordial with the customer and help them if they are not able to decide their order. It teaches you the importance of being patient. As working at McDonald’s follows a scientific process, it teaches you to be organized as well as punctual.
- The organization not only provides you with soft skills but also offers apprenticeship programs in hospitality and catering. It has opened the Hamburger University at Illinois, training staff for restaurant management and executive roles.
- It provides you with discounts on food.
- It provides equal opportunities to everyone. McDonald’s is famous for racial diversity and gender equality in its workplace. It also supports people with disabilities. It offers diversity and sensitivity training to its workers.
- As McDonald’s is a multinational food chain, it makes sure that it complies with the labor laws of each country to avoid disputes or protests. It thus offers pay that is above the minimum wage. Employees can receive a guaranteed paycheck. It generally has the policy of paying every two weeks.
- McDonald’s has a very welcoming culture.Is McDonald’s A Good Place To Work, The employees are called ‘crew members’ regardless of their role. This instills team spirit among its workers.
- It is a good entry-level job when you don’t have any other job-specific skills. You just need to finish secondary school for being eligible to work at McDonald’s. It offers good pay relative to the industry, for entry-level jobs.
- It is a good option if you are looking for part-time jobs during college, for earning extra money. It offers a flexible schedule to allow you to work for lesser hours during exam season, and put in more hours during the holiday season.
- It offers bonuses, recognition, and merit-based promotion to employees who work hard. You can rise to the level of manager based on your good performance.
Cons
- It involves a high degree of customer interaction which might not suit you if you are not very sociable. Moreover, a lot of times, you have to deal with rude customers. A lot of employees have also reported that managers tend to be strict as they are also under immense pressure to show performance.
- McDonald’s stores are known for the high rush.Is McDonald’s A Good Place To Work, The job will also require you to be always on your feet and keep standing for long hours. It can thus become physically tiring.
- McDonald’s does pay more than minimum wage, but still, the pay is very low in proportion to the work pressure and the hours involved. It’s good for entry-level jobs, but as you rise to higher positions, say a store manager, the pay seems small.
- It offers sick pay, but only to those employees who earn more than a stipulated amount, for example, more than 120 pounds a week and have been ill for 4 consecutive days.
- The job involves repetitive tasks to be done as quickly as possible. There’s not any intellectual stimulation involved.
Conclusion
It can thus be seen that working at McDonald’s like any other company has its pros as well as cons. There’s the scope of improvement in the employment policy of McDonald’s. For example, it should try to improve its sick policy, handle grievances of workers against managers, etc.
A lot of people look down upon working at Mcdonald’s, but if you have decided to work there, remember to be proud of your job. It will help you learn skills that will support you in your future career, no matter which job you undertake. McDonald’s itself is taking measures to make its employees feel valued, for example, through its ‘meet our people’ campaign. The final verdict depends on you and the specifics of the particular store you are seeking to work at.
